How Do You Collect New Issues?

Hi everybody, getting back into collecting after some time away and I was wondering how you guys went about collecting new issues. I haven't yet seen recent album supplements so I guess my real question is what can I expect to find on them. I guess the way I used to collect was to buy a full sheet, keep one mint and break the other into plate blocks and singles. With the newer panes of 20 would I be able to collect the same way I used to? I'm embarrased for asking but how do you collect a self adhesive single? Would you simply use the stamps around your desired specimen as postage and then carefully cut the backing paper? Any other ideas on collecting new stuff? I'm not really into all the commemorative books but designing my own album pages seems like something that may be worthwhile. Do you guys keep a database of each others pages around here somewhere? Ok thats a lot of questions and I probably should have broken them up to get to my 50 post minimum quicker but I have a feeling I'll be here for a while.

thanks!
Ben

I won't attempt to answer all of your questions, other than to say that there are as many answers to your questions as there are collectors.




Today, panes of 12 to 20 stamps are typical for each new issue. In fact, for some issues, the post office is under strict instructions to sell no less than a full pane of stamps. For other issues, it's relatively easy to get a block or strip of stamps from your local post office.

Fortunately, most stamps issued today have a scored backing paper, making it relatively easy to cleanly tear off one or more stamps from a pane, so if your goal is collect single stamps, it shouldn't be too much of a problem there. Preprinted albums, however, can be another story, as there are often no rhyme or reason to how stamps are positioned on a page, as some albums provide spaces for a single or multiple single stamps, whereas others have spaces for a block or a strip of stamps to accommodate all of the different designs.

The idea of breaking up the stamps into plate blocks doesn't always work either, as the plate numbers are not included on some issues, whereas they are included in all four corners of other issues. Collectors have more or less abandoned plate block collecting in recent years. However, for the true specialists, there are collectors of plate number singles that enable collectors to identify various printers or any reprints that may have occurred to certain issues.

For many definitive stamps, there are also multiple printers involved that have prepared stamps in different formats. For example, the Four Flags Stamps that are very common these days have been prepared by three different printers in coils, booklets of 20, booklets of 10 and even ATM booklets of 18. The specialist will want examples of each type (and many pre-printed albums will provide spaces for them). However, the varieties have only very subtle differences, which can make identification a real chore, and for those not concerned with such minor details, an example of one of the several varieties may suffice.

Some of the above recited examples are the very reason why some collectors prefer to print their own album pages as opposed to using a pre-printed album that may or may not have spaces for collecting stamps to your liking.

The key is to enjoy the hobby. Only you can decide the collecting preferences that you may prefer. Remember, there's no right or wrong way to collect stamps.

New issues, thats easy..i soak them off envelopes and packets I get from Canada.

Great and informative response, much appreciated. This forum is heaven sent for me right now, I am so excited to be able to pick the brains of some experienced philatelists.

For any PANE of stamps, the backing paper is scored and you can rip off what you want, like wt1 said. But booklets and coils are another matter.

You can cut coils by bending the coil back along the die cuts so you have two stamps back to back and then cutting the backing paper with, in my case, an x-acto knife. But I am sure a sharp knife of any kind will work.

Booklet stamps can be cut the same way, though if the booklet is double-sided, you'll need to use one side of the booklet before you can slice anything.

Back to coil stamps. These things are getting increasingly annoying to collection because:

1. If a coil has a quantity of 100 stamps, the USPS requires you buy the whole coil.
2. If a coil comes in quantities of 5000 or 10000, then the USPS will let you buy a strip of 25, through stamp fulfillment, also too many.

I have been buying all my coil stamps from other collectors on here, ebay, bidStart or my local stamp store rather than the USPS.

Personally I prefer to remove the neighboring stamps around a self-adhesive single/block/strip and have a small amount of backing paper beyond the stamp die-cut edge remain with the stamp copy I put in my collection. I know the backing paper is scored on most issues these days, but when separated there still tends to be a bit of the stamp adhesive that gets uncovered more often than not on the stamps, and over time buildup of dust adhering to the adhesive on the edge of an unused self-adhesive stamp, even in a mount, could happen. But that is just my preference and I'm probably being more fussy about it than need be.